[And balloons too! All colors.]
[Do they float?]
[Oh yes. They float.]
Quintessential “scary clown” Pennywise has haunted our nightmares ever since Stephen
King’s novel It, was published in 1986 and made into a TV miniseries in 1990.
But the 2017 film adaptation of It gives us the occasion to wonder: why are we so scared
of clowns? And what is the deeper force that It’s terrifying Pennywise represents?
[I'm every nightmare you've ever had. I am your worst dream come true!]
The clown’s power to frighten us plays on twisting the familiar into the unfamiliar, and
the question of what can’t be seen behind a painted, happy face.
King masterfully uses Pennywise as a metaphorical force to embody both ultimate
evil, and our own most intimate fears.
[Last chance Tozier! Get out before it gets dark tonight.]
It, also known as Pennywise, is a shapeshifting clown living in the Derry town sewer system.
King based It’s looks on Bozo (a clown from the 60s), Clarabell (Howdy Doody’s partner),
and Ronald McDonald.
Pennywise is most terrifying not because he’s a clown, but because he’s a shapeshifter
who can mirror whatever form our own fear takes.
It's appearance relies on the fear of those it preys upon, and unlike other King villains,
targets children specifically.
[I am the eater of worlds. And of children!]
Pennywise feeds on children because it’s easier -- they scare quickly and their fears
can be simply interpreted in physical forms.
This highlights our deep fear for our children’s safety -- what we often call stranger danger --
and creates an ultimate Evil that knows no boundaries, targeting individuals who are the most vulnerable.
The story of It brings to light the real evils in humanity, and the novel presents an array
of fears including a neighborhood pedophile, the movie monster Rodan, an eruption of blood
through the sewers, and the undead.
[Beware, this video contains some spoilers from the novel and from the 1990 series.]
Georgie, the iconic first kill of the novel, is murdered by Pennywise while looking for
his paper boat in the storm drain.
[And when you're down here with me, you'll float too!]
This horrific image of taking a young, innocent life is an immediate indication that
we are dealing with pure evil.
And Pennywise isn't just the evil stranger, but also evil at home.
Beverly Rogan, the sole female member of The Losers, is abused by her father,
[I worry about you a lot Bevvie, Sometimes I worry a lot.]
[Daddy. Please!]
So Pennywise takes the form of her father
[Bevvie. What do you think you're doing down here with these boys? Now get home.]
Pennywise highlights the cruel and sad irony of a parent who is supposed to care for and
love the child, becoming that child’s worst fear.
The real-life evils in King’s book include
Beverly’s remarkably violent husband, Tom, and the Leper. Another example of
parental failure, Eddie’s mother is so irrationally worried over his health that she selfishly
lies that he has asthma and gives him fake medicine, denying him a childhood when he
is perfectly healthy - and again showing a failure to do a parent’s job of truly aiding
and protecting.
Henry Bowers, a schoolyard bully, is so disturbed he gets physical pleasure from violence.
[I said stop that. Or I'll pull your ears down and tie them underneath your chin.]
In the novel Bowers goes so far as to slice Ben’s stomach, and he takes pride in killing
his father as a young child.
This is a case of Evil easily gaining influence over youths, as Pennywise encourages this
behavior in children, and no adults are present to stop them.
[You chased those brats. Almost got them. Almost. Don;t you want another chance?]
[You've got to go to bat Ben and finish the job. You gotta go back to Derry and kill them all.]
Pennywise harms the innocent while keeping evil characters like Bowers alive, so that
they will help him and further the cause of evil and destruction.
[Lead the way Henry]
Patrick Hockstetter is another friend of Bowers,
who suffocated his infant brother at the age of five out
of fear of replacement -- one of the earliest imaginable acts of Evil.
Through all of these people, old and young, King uses Pennywise to address the many forms
evil takes in human behavior.
And the story conveys how our fears change as we get older.
While Pennywise appears as a clown to young Georgie, he evolves to match the fears of
characters as they age.
The 1990 TV series was limited in terms of graphics and budget, so Pennywise was often
was often still observed in his clown form.
Tim Curry’s Pennywise was sometimes comical and camp as a villain.
The 2017 adaptation portrays more graphic fears,
of monsters, blood, and undead humans.
It also has an R rating, which means it can address some scenes and grotesque
concepts that were left out of the TV series.
[They all float down here!]
What makes Pennywise the Clown so frightening?
Why not a shapeshifting zombie, or gruesome monster? Why does King choose a clown with balloons
and a painted face to signify Ultimate Evil?
According to Sigmund Freud’s theory of the Uncanny, we are frightened by things we find
familiar yet strange; something we know placed in an alien context; or things that
are close to reality, but not quite real.
We don’t find witches in fairy tales or robots in Star Wars uncanny, because we know
these are fictional worlds with fictional beings.
However, when we put witches or robots into our world, we might become unnerved.
A perfect example is an inanimate object becoming too animated.
Small children often wish their toys and dolls would come to life.
But as adults who understand the difference between life and death,
we are unsettled by the idea of a doll coming to life.
Figures fall into the uncanny valley when they exhibit mostly human characteristics,
but don’t look quite right.
Think: mannequins, hyper-realistic CGI, and even Pixar’s first short, Tin Toy,
which got negative backlash for the unsettling animation of an infant.
[Tell it to me in Star Wars.]
[Alright. We like R2-D2 and C-3P0.]
[They're nice.]
[And up here we have a real person. Like Hans Solo.]
[He acts like he doesn't care, but he does.]
[But down here we have a CGI Stormtrooper or Tom Hanks in the Polar Express.]
[I'm scared! Get me out of there!]
In the same way, a clown’s painted face looks almost like a human one -- but just
off enough to creep us out.
And It also makes the clown uncanny by placing it in a context where it shouldn’t be -- turning the
clown who is meant to make kids laugh at a birthday party, into a force that attacks
kids via their terror.
According to Freud, the Uncanny -- this combination of eerie and known, or
strange and unfamiliar -- forces us
to confront repressed desires or impulses in us, just as Pennywise brings out the evil
that’s lurking in people.
Moreover, the true face under the clown’s smile is hidden.
The painted face obscures if the character is truly happy, or concealing disturbing and
evil intentions.
[Look at you. You just stand there with a smile on your face.]
[That's makeup you idiot.]
A study at a hospital waiting room showed that most children found the paintings of
clowns on the wall “frightening” because of their mysterious nature. Most importantly
the kids said the clowns were “unknowable.”
When the 19th century performer Joseph Grimaldi created the appearance we
now associate with clowns, it was a means of hiding personal life from the public,
a method of separating
performance from private life.
Since then, clowns have been concealed by their colorful outfits and makeup, which
has inspired our very logical suspicion of them since the early 1800s.
In the 70s, serial killer John Wayne Gacy also had the alter ego of Pogo the Clown who
performed at birthday parties.
Even before It we had the clown In 1982's Poltergeist,
And we've seen a number of memorable scary clowns in other 80s movies like Killer Crowns From Outer Space,
or in present examples like American Horror Story.
In the Fall of 2016 people reported numerous clown sightings all over the world, and some strange
encounters led to assaults and arrests.
Sightings even occurred Bangor, Maine, where King It.
Terrible things occur to the characters when they are isolated and alone, but
grouping together and protecting each other is the key to saving themselves from It
[Swear to me that if it isn't dead, we'll all come back.]
a strong lesson for children, and everyone, to learn.
But the exact number of the group is also important.
When the adults return to defeat Pennywise, it is vital that the same group returns to Derry.
[Or maybe there was something more than luck at work. If so, I hope it returns when they do.]
[Lucky Seven.]
The Losers’ Club is made up of seven characters.
The number seven is considered a holy or divine number, representing completeness and perfection
and associated with the power of good.
In the Bible, seven is the number of days God took to create the Earth, Noah takes seven
pairs of each clean animal on his arc, and the Book of Revelation with its seven seals uses
the number 54 times.
Sanskrit’s Rig Veda has 7 holy stars.
The Qu’ran in Islam also has 7 gates to Hell, and 7 gates to Heaven. And the list goes on.
6, on the other hand, is commonly associated with evil -- 666 in the Bible is used to describe
persecutors of Christians [in Revelation 13:11-18].
As 7 is a number associated with creation and goodness, 6 indicates a loss of this goodness.
When Stan commits suicide upon learning of Pennywise’s return, the group is left with
6 members.
This puts them at a disadvantage against Pennywise, and it is his goal to separate them by killing
them off individually.
In King’s novels, Pennywise is pitted against a natural enemy called “The Turtle,” a
creator of our universe who represents creation versus It's destruction or consumption.
Both are spawn of an even greater force “The Other,”
so It fears The Other could be working through the children to destroy It.
Through its identity as limitless evil, to its unnatural humanlike appearance,
It highlights our fears of the unknown as well as the real world terrors
that haunt us at all ages.
Through the experiences of the Losers Club, we see that our childhood fears don’t really
fade away, but evolve into new forms to haunt us for the rest of our lives.